


Winter Exchange Headcanon

by MakeBreakfastNotWar



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Christmas, Getting Together, M/M, bullet fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 05:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16848007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakeBreakfastNotWar/pseuds/MakeBreakfastNotWar
Summary: Wrote this last year for ash (svragent on tumblr) in the tfcdiscord winter exchange, cross-posting now because tumblr is going to shit!





	Winter Exchange Headcanon

  * imagine an AU where Neil doesn’t go to Evermore for Christmas
  * when Jean gives Neil’s plane ticket to Kevin, he passes it on but he miserably tells Neil “it won’t matter, even if you go he’ll still hurt Andrew.”
    * ~~Riko has used this trick on Kevin and Jean too many times before, Kevin isn’t going to let Neil fall for it now and get more hurt than he has to~~
  * through some plot bullshit probably involving calling his uncle, Neil does everything in his power to deal with the doctor Riko bought at Easthaven


  * so Neil goes with Matt, Kevin, Aaron and Nicky to new york for the holidays
  * for a while he doesn’t hear anything from his uncle, and he’s mopey and feeling like he should be doing more to protect Andrew
  * and then just a few days into their trip, the group is out at a club when Neil gets a text:  _It’s done_.
  * overcome with relief and happiness, he rushes to tell Kevin
  * it’s still early in the night, Kevin is hovering right around tipsy and Neil looks so happy and it’s dark in the club, but not dark enough for Kevin to miss the plant hanging over their heads
  * he wordlessly points up, and as Neil looks up and starts to say “what’s th-?” Kevin kisses him
  * Neil… might actually be kind of okay with this turn of events?
  * but he doesn’t get time to decide because within seconds Kevin remembers that they’re in public, and he did not spend years remaining carefully heterosexual in the public eye, just to fuck it up now
  * he pulls back and Neil asks “what was that for?” and Kevin looks a bit shell-shocked, eventually he points up again and goes “mistletoe” and walks away


  * Neil spends the rest of that night wondering if Kevin was really just drunk and affected by the excitement, or if he’s actually interested
  * mulling over every interaction he’s had with Kevin in the last couple months, wondering when this interest could have developed and how it could possibly survive through Kevin knowing who he really is
  * he concludes that there’s no way Kevin could really be into him after finding out who he is, Kevin must have just been caught up in the moment, must have forgotten who Neil is
  * so Neil doesn’t say anything about it, is planning to just leave it behind them as a drunken one-time thing
    * ~~sort of like how he never bothered to say anything about Nicky’s kiss(es)~~


  * Matt asks Neil for help buying presents for the monsters, so Neil actually isn’t blindsided by the idea of giving and receiving gifts, and even has time to do some shopping himself
  * he gets Kevin a hand blender so that he can make smoothies for himself without having to use the full blender and wash all the parts, and he gets Andrew a nice lighter with an ‘A’ engraved on it (he also gets gifts for the others but i’m not going to get into that)
  * Kevin gets Neil a really nice pair of running shoes, the kind he would never splurge on for himself even though they’ll last longer and be better for his feet than the ones he has
    * it’s an unexpectedly thoughtful gift, and leave Neil second-guessing the conclusion he came to about their kiss a few days earlier


  * a few minutes before the ball drops on new years eve, Neil finds himself next to Kevin as usual (gotta keep an eye on him, make sure he’s not getting into trouble)
  * and Kevin realizes how close to midnight it is and tells Neil they need to talk, he’s very insistent that they go somewhere private and Neil doesn’t really care about the party so he’s willing to humour Kevin
  * so they walk away from the party and find an empty room and as Neil turns to ask what Kevin wanted to talk about, he can hear them starting to count down in the next room
  * and when Kevin leans forwards and kisses him, Neil realizes he must have switched to water hours ago without Neil noticing because there’s no alcohol on his breath, this is sober Kevin purposely pulling Neil away from the party so he could kiss him
  * and Neil finds that he does want to kiss back after all
  * after a few minutes Kevin and Neil realize they should probably head back to the party before their friends start looking for them


  * they don’t get much time alone for the last couple days of their trip, and then they’re back in south carolina picking Andrew up in columbia
  * everyone gives Andrew the presents they got for him (Kevin got him a nice mug even though he knows Andrew will only use it for ridiculously sweet drinks that definitely aren’t healthy for him), and though he doesn’t outwardly express any gratitude, Andrew uses his new lighter to light a cigarette practically before they get out the door of Easthaven
  * sort of like in the books, when Neil goes to get out of the car back at the Tower he ends up closer to Andrew than expected, but he doesn’t mind because maybe Andrew is strong enough to support him


  * at night practice Neil finally has Kevin cornered in relative privacy (relative because Andrew is watching them but can’t hear them when they’re locked into the court)
  * so Neil confronts Kevin about kissing him when he supposedly has Thea, and Kevin explains that his relationship with Thea is open and that he’s interested in Neil, but nothing can come of it because it will be easier to make Court if they both remain heterosexual as far as the media is concerned
  * Neil is basically like “well why is what we do on our own time any of the media’s business”
  * Kevin’s like “we don’t have our own time, you know i’m never anywhere without Andrew”
    * Neil gets distracted wondering what Andrew would think if he found out about what’s going on between Neil and Kevin
    * for some reason the conversation a specific conversation from months ago comes to mind:  
 _“When I said I wasn’t Andrew’s type, I meant it. It’s not about my looks or faith. It’s that I’m a woman.”  
“Oh. Then Andrew and Kevin—”_
    * following this train of thought, Neil now feels compelled to ask Kevin why he and Andrew aren’t together, if Thea isn’t actually an issue
    * Kevin seems pretty convinced that Andrew isn’t even gay, let alone interested in him, so Neil decides to let it drop, not wanting to out Andrew if Kevin doesn’t already know


  * the next day at practice, Andrew is in a mood, aiming all his rebounds at the strikers’ feet
  * this is when Neil offers to trade his scars for Andrew to stop cutting his teammates off at the knees
  * at the end of practice (after that works and Andrew starts cooperating), Wymack makes some comment to Neil about “promise me this isn’t going to be a problem”
  * since he didn’t go to Evermore, Neil doesn’t have handcuff marks for Roland to comment on at Eden’s that night, but he still has Wymack’s comment in mind and asks Andrew about it
  * Andrew says that Wymack needs to mind his paygrade, he’s not supposed to get involved in their personal problems
  * and here we have the iconic:  
 _“I didn’t think I was a personal problem. You hate me, remember?“  
"Every inch of you,” Andrew said. “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t blow you.”_
  * only now Neil has already been shocked once by finding out Kevin was into him
  * he is  _shook_  by the fact that Andrew also thinks he’s attractive
  * but the difference is this: Kevin knows who Neil is and is interested nonetheless. Andrew hates what he knows about Neil and would probably hate him even more if he knew the truth, so his attraction must only be surface-level
  * at least, that’s what Neil tells himself
  * which means Andrew is safe
  * Andrew tells him nothing will come of it, but Neil thinks maybe it would be okay if something did come of it, at least with Andrew there’s no risk of him getting attached and getting hurt when Neil inevitably dies in a few months


  * fast forward a couple weeks and Andrew is kissing Neil on the roof, so different from Kevin but for the life of him Neil couldn’t say which was better because they both made him feel so real
  * Kevin already said nothing could happen between them, so it doesn’t feel like a betrayal to kiss Andrew this way
  * but when Neil says yes to Andrew in the dorm and Kevin walks out of the bedroom where he was watching exy to find Neil on the ground under Andrew, Neil sees the stricken expression on his face before he shuts down and walks back out of the room, and realizes he might have fucked up
  * Kevin has locked himself in the bedroom, so Neil figures he can address the issue with Andrew first because he’s still here
  * it all comes out, the two kisses over Christmas and how Kevin said nothing could come of it because they’re never alone in private anyway, and Andrew decides he needs to have a long talk with Kevin about consent and not just kissing someone out of nowhere without asking first, but what he tells Neil is “this is nothing. i don’t care what you do with day in your free time”
  * but Neil doesn’t want to lose what he has with Andrew, and he tells him as much: “i know this is nothing, but i don’t want it to stop”
  * Andrew really has to spell it out for him, so he very clearly tells Neil “you can have both”
  * all of this happens in the ten minutes that Nicky is gone picking a movie, and soon he’s knocking on the door to be let back in
  * Neil doesn’t absorb the movie at all, too consumed with thoughts of Andrew and Kevin and wondering if he’s really allowed to have this
  * he doesn’t get to talk to Kevin that night, but he resolves to corner him the next day when they have their night practice


  * so when they go to the court the following night, Neil follows Kevin into the locker room and doesn’t immediately take his gear to a stall to change
  * he tells Kevin, “i know you said nothing could happen because we’re never alone, but Andrew is okay with it. we can make time, if you still want this”
  * Kevin is naturally a bit skeptical, he doesn’t know why Neil would still want him when he obviously has Andrew
  * “why do you want me when you have Thea?” Neil counters. “it’s different with Andrew”
  * Kevin finally walks over to Neil, and stops himself just before he reaches for him. “you really want this?” he confirms
  * Neil can’t say yes fast enough, and then Kevin is kissing him and it’s so much better when he knows it’s coming, when he’s not caught off-guard
    * little does Neil know that Andrew cornered Kevin earlier in their dorm and had a friendly conversation with him about not touching people without asking first


  * Andrew takes a few days to mull over Kevin’s newfound acceptance of his own bisexuality, and decides he might just be interested
  * he casually mentions to Neil that it would probably make Neil’s life easier if he wasn’t trying to split time between the two of them
  * at first Neil is hurt, thinks Andrew is trying to call off their “nothing” arrangement, so  _again_ Andrew has to spell things out for him, that Neil could just do things with both of them together
  * “you would want that? to be with Kevin?”
  * “Kevin can be interesting when he’s not being a coward”


  * the next day after their night practice, Kevin walks out of the locker room to find Andrew kissing Neil in the lounge
  * he feels like this is something forbidden, that he’s not allowed to see, so he says “i’ll just go wait in the car” and moves towards the door
  * before he gets there, Andrew says “or you could stay”
  * Kevin looks confused, and Andrew is getting really tired of having to spell things out for  ~~his~~ oblivious junkies, but he walks up to Kevin and asks “yes or no?”
  * Kevin says yes




End file.
